Business

Citigroup Settles Subprime Mortgage Case For $7 Billion

12:34pm July 14, 2014

by Jim Zarroli

Citigroup has settled civil charges related to the marketing of mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Some of the money will go toward mortgage relief.

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Barcelona football star Lionel Messi (right) leaves a courthouse in Gava, Spain, in September 2013, after a hearing on tax evasion charges. Messi and his father paid $6.5 million to try to settle the case, but his father may still go on trial.

Financial Scandals Tarnish Spanish Soccer Glory

12:12pm July 12, 2014

by Lauren Frayer

FC Barcelona — home to two of soccer's superstars, Messi and Neymar — has been indicted on tax fraud, a sign that the culture of impunity among Europe's top soccer clubs may be coming to an end.

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Villas in a luxury compound in Wuxi, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, sit empty after a year while more apartment blocks rise in the distance.

China's Booming Real Estate Market Finally Begins To Slide

8:54am July 11, 2014

by Frank Langfitt

After years of stunning growth, China's go-go real estate market is in retreat. It has been one of the engines driving the world's second-largest economy, so economists are watching it closely.

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Hottest Burger In Britain Burns 2 Journalists

8:01am July 11, 2014

Two journalists from a newspaper in Brighton, England, went to the hospital after sampling the Hot Chili Burger. The heat is in the sauce, which is rated about 3,000 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.

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Picketers supporting independent truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach stand outside a container terminal.

Picketing Truckers Raise Tensions At LA Port Amid Dockworker Talks

7:04pm July 10, 2014

by Kirk Siegler

Some drivers are on strike at the ports of LA and Long Beach, and shipping companies are in negotiations with dockworkers over a new contract. Analysts say a full-blown strike would hurt the economy.

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Economy

Detroit Shuts Off Water As It Tries To Collect Millions Owed

11:30am July 10, 2014

by Sarah Cwiek

This year, 17,000 customers have had their water shut off because of late payments. Residents are upset with how the city is going about it, and question whether some are getting special treatment.

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Inside RCA Studio A, whose sale has sparked a wave of backlash from the Nashville music community, Ben Folds (right, on staircase) addresses press and supporters.

Music & Culture

Clash In Nashville: A Property Battle On Music Row Draws A Crowd

11:27am July 10, 2014

by Nina Cardona

After decades hosting country greats, RCA Studio A is in jeopardy — and there are local music titans on both sides of the fight.

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World News

Goods Sold In Cuban Shops Often Come From Florida Stores

9:51am July 08, 2014

by Greg Allen

Some stores in and around Miami specialize in the Cuba trade, selling everything from discount clothes to car parts for Soviet-era cars. It's a legal way around the 50-year-old trade embargo.

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London Netflix Office Searches For Qualified Couch Potato

9:51am July 08, 2014

The office is looking to hire a tagger. That is someone to watch Netflix titles and categorize them. The successful applicant may work from home.

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Self-Described Optimist Taylor Swift On The Future Of Music

9:51am July 08, 2014

In an op-ed in Monday's Wall Street Journal, the singer-songwriter writes that "the value of an album is ... based on the amount of heart and soul an artist has bled into a body of work."

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